Blackberry Hoisin Turkey Meatball Lettuce wraps

I made these tasty meatball lettuce wraps with Blackberry sauce a while ago now using the recipe from justataste.com and everyone loved them.  So when I made the meal plan this week I added them to it.  Last time I made my own blackberry preserves on the fly with blackberries, water and honey but this time I knew I would be a little more rushed for time so I picked up some organic Blackberry Preserves from the market.  

For the boys I left out the green onion and made 4 meatballs without.  But I can tell you the green onion MAKES these meatballs!  

This batch made about 24 Turkey Meatballs but I wanted to make them fairly small as I was putting them into lettuce wraps. I also lined my muffin pan with silicon muffin cups and that made it SO easy to clean up!

Now these little guys cooked perfectly in just 15 minutes at 500 degrees.  I know 500 degrees sounds SUPER high but I promise they will cook perfectly and quickly too!  

Once cooked I let them cool slightly and then placed them on the washed lettuce leaves.  I get the live butter lettuce in the round containers in the salad section at the store and they work perfectly.  In the spring and summer I'll have LOTS of lettuce growing in the garden so I'll be able to go into the back yard and pick what I need.  But until then these live butter lettuce from the store work perfectly.  

The funny thing is everyone had a slightly different variation of the same dinner.  Asher still enjoyed the Lettuce wraps but had no green onion and Frasers meatballs were cup up and I gave him cucumber slices and whole wheat nann bread instead of lettuce leaves.  Then Gord and I enjoyed these beautiful little lettuce wraps dripping with blackberry Hoisin sauce. So good!!!  

Blackberry Hoisin Turkey Meatball Lettuce Wraps

Yield: About 24 meatballs

Prep Time: 15 min

Cook Time: 15 min

Ingredients

1/4 cup almond milk (or other milk of choice)
1/4 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey or chicken
1/4 cup finely chopped green onion
1 Tablespoon minced garlic (or 1 tsp powdered)
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger (or 1 tsp powdered)
2 Tablespoons braggs liquid aminos or soy sauce
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup blackberry preserves
1 head live butter lettuce, leaves separated and washed

Directions 

1. Preheat the oven to 500ºF.  Oil a mini-muffin pan or baking dish or line with silicon muffin cups.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the milk and breadcrumbs and let them sit for 5 minutes.
3. Add the ground chicken, green onion, garlic, ginger, braggs liquid aminos and egg to the bowl with the breadcrumbs. Use your hands or a large spoon to mix the ingredients just until combined. 
4. Shape the meat mixture into balls using about 3 tablespoons of meat per meatball. Place the shaped meatballs into the prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes, or until the meatballs are fully cooked.
5. While the meatballs are baking, whisk together the hoisin sauce and blackberry jam in a small sauce pan over medium heat.
6. Remove the meatballs from the oven. Place one or two meatballs in each leaf of lettuce, drizzle with Blackberry sauce and top with green onions to serve.